Extreme cold weather alert issued for Toronto

Toronto Public Health has issued an extreme cold weather alert for the city starting Friday and continuing “until further notice.”

Toronto’s medical officer of health, Dr. Eileen de Villa, sent the statement out just before 8 a.m. This is the second extreme cold weather alert issued for Toronto this week, as the first alert was issued on Tuesday.

Although the daytime temperature for Friday is 4 C, Environment Canada is forecasting an overnight temperature of -12 C with a wind chill of -17.

For Saturday, the wind chill will be -19 in the morning before warming up to -9 for the afternoon.

“Those most at risk of cold-related illness are people experiencing homelessness or those under-housed, those who work outdoors, people with a pre-existing heart condition or respiratory illness, elderly people, infants and young children,” Toronto Public Health said. “People with heart problems can experience worsening of their condition up to several days after cold weather occurs.”

Toronto Public Health is asking residents to help vulnerable people by calling 311 if there is a need for street outreach assistance or 911 if the situation is an emergency.

“Extreme cold weather alerts activate local services that focus on getting and keeping vulnerable residents inside. A warming centre is open at Metro Hall by 7 p.m. the day an alert is called and remains open continuously until noon on the day an alert is terminated,” Toronto Public Health said. “Other services include notification to community agencies to relax any service restrictions, availability of transit tokens in some drop-ins and additional overnight street outreach.”

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